Switching From Tier 1 PSW To Tier 1 Entrepreneur

Switching From Tier 1 PSW To Tier 1 Entrepreneur

 

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) is for non-European migrants who want to invest in the UK by setting up or taking over, and being actively involved in the running of, a business or businesses in the UK.

A 'business' means an enterprise as:

(i) a sole trader,

(ii) a partnership, or

(iii) a company registered in the UK

To meet the eligibility criteria, you must score:75 points for your attributes which are different depending on whether you make an initial or extension application; and

10 points for English language; and

10 points for available maintenance (funds)

Leave as a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) Migrant and access to £50,000

You must be applying from within the UK and have last been granted leave as a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) migrant. You must also have £50,000 of your own money available to make a fresh investment into business in the UK, and be established in business in the UK as a self-employed person or as a director.

You will get 75 points for attributes if all of the following requirements are duly satisfied:

You must be in the UK and be applying to switch to Tier 1 (Entrepreneur).

You must have last had leave as a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) migrant.

You must have been registered as self-employed or a director of a business within the last 3 months before submitting your application as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur).

Other than the work necessary to administer the business, your main business activity must be working at graduate level. We will not take into account the tasks involved with the running of the business for this assessment. For example

If the business is software sales and your main activity is developing software, you may qualify for points;

If the business is a taxi firm, the main occupation is driving a taxi and you will not score points even though you manage the business. Your main activity is providing a taxi service which is not skilled to graduate level.

You must also have at least £50,000 to invest in UK business. You can include money made available by other people (known as ‘a third party or parties’) but you must also provide a declaration that the money is available to you or the business that you are running, from each contributor of funds, together with confirmation that the declarations are valid. If you are relying on money held by your husband, wife or partner, they will be regarded as a third party. This money can be made up from money already invested in business together with access to any balance of money needed to total £50,000. If you have formed an Entrepreneurial Team with another applicant, the documents must confirm that the funds are available to both team members. Your Entrepreneurial team member must also qualify to use the same amount of investment if the total amount available to your entrepreneurial team is £50,000 or more. If the other team member does not also qualify for this level of investment, the total amount available to the team must be at £200,000 or more.

If you have already legally established a business in the UK while under a different immigration category, you may use this investment to claim points if it satisfies the requirements. If all of the money needed has been invested, all of the points needed for attributes can be awarded (75 points). The investment must have been made in the 12 calendar months before the date of  application. Any investment made more than 12 months before your application will not be counted.The amount of money invested should not:

include the value of any residential accommodation or property development, or property management; or

be in the form of a director’s loan, unless it is unsecured and is subordinated in favour of the third-party creditors.

Money available for investment must be in a regulated financial institution. Confirmation of the money available to you must come from a financial institution that is regulated by the home regulator. The home regulator is an official financial regulatory body, in the country where the financial institution operates and the funds are located. The regulatory body must be appropriate for the type of financial transaction. Money held in the UK must be held in an institution that is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Money available for investment must be disposable in the UK. If the money is not held in the UK, all of the funds required must be freely transferable to the UK and able to be converted to pounds sterling. Money held in an overseas account but in a financial institution that is regulated by the FSA will satisfy this requirement.Money held overseas in an institution that is not regulated by the FSA must have confirmation that the money can be transferred into the UK. This can be a document from your financial institution.